Will start this off by posting a post by a mentor-Rev. Gideon Odoma(an experienced Christian Apologist). This means I would not need to write on the old testament being valid. Here goes
JESUS EVERYWHERE... THE GOSPEL IN EVERY BLOC
It is okay to say you cannot see or preach the Gospel from the 4 gospels and/or from the Old Testament But,Never say the Gospel is not there in the old Testament and in the 4 gospels.
Long before the New Testament was written, the followers of Jesus
Christ preached the gospel and saw people come to the faith in their
thousands, by the power of the Spirit — using the scriptures they had —
which we now call the old Testament. Beginning from the day of
Pentecost, the Apostles witnessed for Jesus using the Hebrew scriptures
(Old Testament).
To come up 2 millennia later and tell us the
gospel is to be seen only in the epistles is inordinately audacious and
enormously mistaken.
See:
Acts 17:2 And Paul, AS HIS
MANNER WAS, went in unto them, and three sabbath days REASONED WITH THEM
OUT OF THE SCRIPTURES (Old Testament),
3 Opening and alleging,
that CHRIST MUST NEEDS HAVE SUFFERED, AND RISEN AGAIN FROM THE DEAD; and
that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
It was the manner or custom of Paul to do what we are told he did in the passage above.
Acts 18: 28 For he (Apollos) mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly,
SHEWING BY THE SCRIPTURES THAT JESUS WAS CHRIST... (Scriptures here also
means the Old Testament)
Acts 26:22 Having therefore
obtained help of God, I (Paul) continue unto this day, witnessing both
to small and great, SAYING NONE OTHER THINGS THAN THOSE WHICH THE
PROPHETS AND MOSES DID SAY SHOULD COME: 23 THAT CHRIST SHOULD
SUFFER, AND THAT HE SHOULD BE THE FIRST THAT SHOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD,
AND SHOULD SHEW LIGHT UNTO THE PEOPLE, AND TO THE GENTILES.
These
people had only the Old Testament scriptures and the Holy Spirit at the
time, and they shone brilliantly with/in the gospel.True, it
is not surprising that the earliest followers of Jesus preached the
gospel using the Old Testament.
Consider Jesus' use of the Old
Testament:
Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES THE
THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF. (Scriptures here obviously refers to the old
Testament)
Jesus believed in the veracity of the Old Testament
and it's relevance in the ministry of the gospel so much that He had to
open the understanding of His disciples so they could understand the Old
Testament. If the Old Testament are not crucial for understanding the
gospel, Jesus would not do this, as we are clearly told here:
Luke24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that ALL THINGS MUST BE FULFILLED, WHICH WERE
WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF MOSES, AND IN THE PROPHETS, AND IN THE PSALMS,
CONCERNING ME.
45 Then OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES,
Prior to this time, Jesus had charged the Jews:
John 5:39: SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES (Old Testament); for in them ye think ye
have eternal life: AND THEY (the old Testament scriptures) ARE THEY
WHICH TESTIFY OF ME.
The burden of all of scripture is to bear witness, to testify of Jesus.
If you can't see Jesus and His gospel in any bloc of Scriptures, it is
due to your personal deficiency and/or incompetence. It is not because
Jesus is not objectively there in every bloc of scripture. He is there!The scriptures, all of it, testify of Jesus.
If you see Jesus only in the epistles, fair. Better than to not see Him
at all. But please, don't ever belittle or deny the power of the rest
blocs of scripture as competent and proper locations for encountering
Jesus and His gospel.
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